Page 29 of Starved Until Sunset

“Yeah, I’m sure you would. But how about we let the doctors decide when you get to do that, okay?”

“Is Cody here?” Otis said.

“He’s out in the truck. The waiting room was full of people coughing.”

“Oh, apple trees. You two don’t need to be here. I don’t want you catching anything. Go on home.”

“Nope. I’m here, just like you would be for me,” Demetrius said.

“I need to make a bathroom run.” Otis stood and offered his chair, the only one available. “I’ll send Cody a text and have him meet me in the cafeteria for coffee and get him caught up.”

“Okay, thank you, Otis. I’m sure he’d appreciate that.”

Otis walked up the opposite side of the bed from Demetrius. He smiled at Amelia, gently touched her shoulder, and leaned down for a very soft, chaste kiss on the lips. “I’ll be back soon, love.”

“Take your time. Demetrius will keep me company.”

Otis smiled, nodded to Demetrius, then stepped into the hallway and was gone. Demetrius pulled the chair up alongside the bed where he could reach her hand before sitting and holding it between his palms. Her skin felt cool, and he gently rubbed her hand as he met her uncovered eye.

“What happened?”

She looked away and her free hand went to the neck brace. “I hate this thing.”

“I’m sure it’s uncomfortable, but leave it alone, okay?” He squeezed her hand. “Tell me what happened.”

She pulled her hand free and sighed. “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“Aunt Amelia,” he said in a stern but quiet voice. “After everything we’ve been through together, how could you say that?”

Amelia fixed her eye on a spot high up in a corner of the curtained area. “It happened so fast.” Although her expression hardened with determination, she continued to avoid looking at him. “But I know what I saw.”

“Tell me. Start at the beginning.”

“All right.” She hesitated, gathering her thoughts. “I left the condo to go pick up Ruby for our book club. I was running a little late because I’d lost track of time, so I was rushing a bit. I’d just turned onto 118, not too far from home. I didn’t see her until she was right in front of me. It was like she just appeared in the road out of nowhere. Like she wasn’t there one second, then the next she was right in front of me. I swerved to miss her and went into the ditch. The airbag went off, and I know I’ve totaled my car. But I was so scared. I thought I was going to hit her.”

“A woman?”

She tried to turn her head to look at him, but the neck brace prevented it. “Damn this thing.”

Demetrius stood and leaned in to look down at her, repeating, “It was a woman?”

“Yes. It was a woman. But…” She darted a look at the part in the curtain, then back at him. She shifted a bit closer to him, and Demetrius leaned down even more. Finally, she said in a quiet voice, “I would swear it was Edie Hopkins.”

Demetrius shook his head. “I don’t know who that is.”

“She lived in the condo behind us. Lived. As in used to be alive.”

“Oh. You’re sure?”

“I wish I was. I only caught a quick look before I swerved, but it looked so much like Edie.” She scooted even closer to the edge of the stretcher and checked the part in the curtain again. When she spoke, she’d lowered her voice, but Demetrius could detect the undercurrent of fear. “Is it zombies again?”

Guilt zinged through him. Like an injection of acid, it burned as it traveled through his system. It gnawed at the wall of contentment and complacency he’d stubbornly built and maintained since they’d lost the business, weakening the foundation of his denial. He’d taken the judge’s decision as a sign he and Cody needed to focus on their relationship and their life together and ignore anything unusual that might happen in their town. So, he’d put all his energy toward appreciating their day by day routine and regular paychecks. He’d created a budget and focused on paying down their bills. And he’d made a point of connecting even more with Cody, emotionally and physically.

But this was, after all, Parson’s Hollow. And even though they’d lost their animal control business, it hadn’t meant strange things couldn’t happen there any longer. And it didn’t mean they should turn away from acknowledging them when they might pop up. They should have been paying closer attention. But both of them had fallen into the schedule of a steady and physically demanding job that wasn’t regularly sideswiped by something from a horror movie. And now something terrible was happening, had already been happening, apparently, and he had no idea if anyone else realized it. He also had no idea how long it had been going on, and how bad it had gotten. Cody being swarmed by bats had just been the first sign for them.

“I don’t know if it’s zombies.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “But I’m going to find out.”

She smiled as another tear fell from her eye. “The Spooky Sleuths are back in business?”